My Girlfriend is an Evil Woman

Kitahara Hideji was puzzled and asked, “What’s the matter, Yukari? Why can’t you come closer?”

Yukari shook her head vigorously. “I can’t touch that sword, so I need to stay away.”

“Can’t touch this sword?” Kitahara Hideji looked down at the worn leather scabbard in his hand. It looked plain and unremarkable, with no special features. However, he quickly turned and carefully placed the sword back on the rack. Even his own daughter couldn’t touch it? Was this some kind of taboo or superstition?

After returning the sword, Yukari crawled closer and appeared more relaxed. She sat in front of Kitahara Hideji like a duckling. Her big, sparkling eyes kept darting towards the four-tiered sword rack. Her feet, clad in white socks, were curled up, resembling a cat eyeing a hedgehog, wanting to play with it but not daring to approach.

“Yukari, is there anything special about this sword?” Kitahara Hideji asked.

Yukari’s attention was still on the sword rack, but she began to count on her fingers, looking somewhat unsure. After a moment, she turned to Kitahara Hideji and asked, “Do you think it’s about one hundred fifty-sixty-seven-eighty years old?” She looked uncertain as she asked for his opinion.

Kitahara Hideji stared at her in disbelief. “Are you asking me about your own family’s ancestors?”

Yukari was an easygoing girl. She counted for a while but couldn’t come up with a definite answer. She simply gave up and cheerfully said, “Well, it’s about a hundred fifty-sixty-seven-eighty years ago. Our Fukuzawa Family followed some bigshot here to fight a war. We won the war, but we didn’t gain anything from it. All the benefits went to the higher-ups, and we lost many lives. Since then, our Fukuzawa Family members were forbidden from assisting the government.”

Kitahara Hideji did some quick mental calculations and suspected that Fukuzawa Family’s ancestors might have been involved in the Boshin War. However, Yukari’s account was vague, and he couldn’t be sure. If it were true, Fukuzawa Family probably relocated from Kyushu or Shikoku.

But those were ancient history and he didn’t dwell on it. He quickly apologized to Yukari, saying, “I’m sorry, Yukari. I didn’t know this was such a meaningful piece of weaponry. I was just curious and picked it up…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Yukari waved her hand and interrupted him. She continued to smile and said, “You can touch it; it’s just me who can’t. My dad told me never to touch a real sword in my life. If I ever dare to touch one, he won’t let me keep the Fukuzawa surname. He even forbids me from unsheathing the wooden sword I use.”

She said, pondered for a moment, then looked at the four-tiered sword rack with a hint of frustration. “I really want to play with it, but even though I was young at the time, my dad was dead serious about it. If I were to touch a real sword, he said he wouldn’t let me keep the Fukuzawa surname anymore. You can’t live without a surname, and without a family, you’d be all alone. That’s not good at all! No, no!”

However, she still seemed tempted. She looked at the sword and then at Kitahara Hideji, as if considering what would happen if she couldn’t keep the Fukuzawa surname and had to use the name Kitahara instead.

Kitahara Hideji, seeing her contemplating look, immediately felt uneasy and quickly changed the subject. “Let’s not talk about the sword anymore, Yukari. Why did you come to see me?”

Yukari slapped her forehead as she suddenly remembered the reason. She hurriedly said, “I heard you got into a fight, so of course, I had to come and check on you. I’m a very loyal friend, you know! You can ask around; I’m known for my loyalty in this area. So, did you get hurt? You look really pale. Did you take a beating?”

Without waiting for Kitahara Hideji to respond, she began to blame herself. “I should have asked you this morning when we were heading to school, but my dad was very strict and forbade me and my sister from bothering you at school or asking too many questions about this matter. He said it wouldn’t look good for you… I don’t know why it wouldn’t look good, though. If we were at school, we could have asked you directly. Anyway, this afternoon, we were planning to go straight from school to seek revenge to save you the trouble of coming back home to meet us at the intersection.”

She talked nonstop like a child, and Kitahara Hideji felt a warm feeling in his heart. He didn’t expect Yukari to skip her club practice out of concern for him and was probably waiting for him at the intersection.

His voice softened unintentionally as he said, “I didn’t take a beating, Yukari. Thanks for worrying about me!”

“Don’t act tough. You’re my friend, and I’ll help you!” Yukari didn’t seem completely convinced. She patted the stuffed rabbit and it twitched in response. “I’ve never been the kind of person to watch my friends get into trouble. If you get into trouble, we’ll go get your honor back and give those guys a good beating.”

“I really didn’t take a beating!”

“Then why do you look so pale?”

“This… I just felt a bit unwell earlier.”

“You were perfectly fine the day before yesterday. You must be injured. Why else would you feel unwell? That’s considered taking a beating, you know?”

“I really didn’t take a beating!”

“Then why do you look so pale?”

“……”

Kitahara Hideji, for better or worse, took ten minutes to convince Yukari that he had beaten up those thugs, not the other way around.

However, Yukari was filled with regret. ‘They didn’t seem that strong!’ She then earnestly said, ‘Anyway, if you ever get bullied in the future, tell me. I have over twenty little brothers, and I guarantee we’ll make the other side regret it!’

Kitahara Hideji felt powerless. ‘Well, you’re the local bully around here, I didn’t see that coming. My apologies,’ he nodded. ‘Next time I get into trouble, I’ll let you know. Whatever you say goes.’

He had never seen anyone so eager to fight on someone else’s behalf.

‘That’s the spirit!’ Yukari was delighted. She took out her phone and said, ‘Here, I’ll give you my email and number. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need anything. Friends stick together through thick and thin!’

Kitahara Hideji reluctantly took out his phone, activated the infrared transmission, and exchanged email addresses and phone numbers with Yukari. ‘Is forcing me to help you fight the way friends do?’ he wondered. It was quite straightforward.

After exchanging numbers, Yukari didn’t rush to leave. Instead, she asked sympathetically, ‘Are you stuck here because my old man put you in time-out for fighting? Do you want me to get some comics from my friends to pass the time?’

The room was filled with books. Kitahara Hideji weakly lowered his head and replied, ‘No, your father lent me this place to study.’

‘You actually read the books in here? Many of them aren’t in Japanese. Can you understand them?’

Talking to Yukari required being direct and not modest; otherwise, it would be troublesome. Kitahara Hideji nodded firmly, ‘I can understand them!’

‘Wait a moment!’ Yukari got up and ran off, returning with a book. She handed it to Kitahara Hideji with anticipation, asking, ‘Can you read this one?’

Kitahara Hideji took the book and, with some curiosity, saw that it was a collection of classical Chinese stories called ‘Nanshan Night Talk,’ written in traditional Chinese characters. Reading it posed no problem for him, but he couldn’t quite grasp what Yukari was up to.

‘You want to hear a story?’ Perhaps it would be better to tell her fairy tales instead. These ancient Chinese literati discussions didn’t seem suitable. It was challenging even for him as a Chinese person.

‘I want to hear you read this. My dad used to read these stories to me all the time.’ She spoke with a childlike and pure smile on her face. ‘When I was little, my dad spoiled me the most. He played with me every day and read me these stories. I miss it. My sister got so jealous that she even went on a hunger strike for several meals because of it. Mom had to coax her for a long time before she finally ate.’

She pointed to the door of the library and chuckled, “I still remember one time I rode on my dad’s neck to come in here, but he entered, and I didn’t. I ended up falling and slept for a whole day. Thinking back, it was so heartwarming.”

“You didn’t get brain damage from that fall, did you?” Kitahara Hideji muttered in his mind as he casually flipped through the book in his hand. He glanced at it and found it quite dull, which explained why he had never heard of it before. But since Yukari wanted to hear it, he didn’t mind reading it to her. Maybe she would fall asleep after a few sentences.

He asked, “Shall I start reading?”

“Can you really read it?” Yukari sat up straight, admiration in her eyes. She looked up to him and said, “I never expected you to know Chinese. You’re amazing!”

“It’s nothing special; Chinese is not a niche language,” Kitahara Hideji said, shifting uncomfortably, feeling somewhat awkward. He felt a guilty conscience for deceiving this innocent girl. Speaking Chinese had been natural for him since childhood, and he never thought it would be considered an advantage in Japan, let alone earn him admiration from Yukari.

He quickly began reading, reading each sentence in Chinese and then explaining the meaning in Japanese for Yukari. She listened attentively, but after a while, she lowered her head and started muttering to herself. Kitahara Hideji found it strange and, during a pause in the text, he discreetly listened and discovered that Yukari was softly repeating a phrase he had just read, “狼心狗肺, 狼心狗肺, 狼心狗肺…”

Kitahara Hideji’s face twisted in disbelief. So, that’s how she learned those jumbled idioms!

He had an ominous feeling that one day, the phrase “狼心狗肺” might be directed at him, accompanied by comments like, “Wow, you’re really ruthless, just like a wolf’s heart and a dog’s lungs, so manly!”

But that was a problem for another day. He refocused and continued reading to Yukari while savoring the book’s content. Gradually, the sun set behind the mountains, casting a soft orange glow into the library, adorning both of them with a golden edge.